Student council of the Universiteit van Amsterdam – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2020)

The national government has decided to suspend regular education activities at universities, including exams, as a measure to contain the covid-19 pandemic. Defendant has decided to use an online proctoring application, Proctorio, that monitors students while they take their exam from their home. The software records the user's webcam, microphone, internet traffic and inputs. The court had to give a preliminary decision on whether the processing is legal. Defendant has a public task of organizing education and administering exams, provided by law. Because of restrictions by the national government, the use of online proctoring is the only suitable option of administering exams. The processing is therefore necessary for the exercise of an official authority vested in the controller. Recording the webcam of students in a personal environment and requiring them to 'scan' their room does not constitute personal data of a special category as laid down in article 9, because the controller does not track the user's eyes, respiration, stress or biometrics. The processing also does not violate the principles laid down in [Article 5 GDPR|article 5]].